National Women’s Health Week runs May 9-14 and the Success
Partnership wants to help kick off this national celebration of
women’s health by inviting mothers and all women age 40 and older
to get their annual screening for breast cancer.
National Women’s Health Week runs May 9-14 and the Success Partnership wants to help kick off this national celebration of women’s health by inviting mothers and all women age 40 and older to get their annual screening for breast cancer.
Cancer Detection Programs: Every Woman Counts, operated by the California Department of Health Services, provides breast cancer screening services to more than 165,000 low income and uninsured women a year. These services are coordinated locally through the Success Partnership.
Twenty-one percent of California women are without health insurance. Women without insurance are far less likely to have regular life-saving clinical breast exams and mammograms. In fact, for California women age 40 and older, less than one-third of uninsured women received a mammogram in the past year versus two-thirds of insured women.
Women 40 and older, and especially women 50 and older, are at greatest risk for breast cancer. Statewide, more than 75 percent of the women served by Cancer Detection Programs: Every Woman Counts breast cancer screening program are women of color. Free screenings for early breast cancer detection are offered to women in California who are 40 years of age or older, have low income, don’t have medical insurance, have medical insurance that does not cover these services, or have a high deductible or co-payment or are not getting these services through Medi-Cal.
To find out more about these free services, women (or their loved ones), call the toll-free 1-800-511-2300 phone line, which operates Monday – Friday, 9a.m.-7 p.m. Assistance is offered in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Vietnamese. Callers who qualify for a free clinical breast exam and mammogram are referred to participating health providers in their own neighborhood.
The Success Partnership is the regional Cancer Detection Partnership serving women in the Central Coast area. National Women’s Health Week is a national effort to raise awareness about manageable steps women can take to improve their health. The focus is on the importance of incorporating simple preventive and positive health behaviors into everyday life.
Multi-Lingual Toll-Free 1-800-511-2300 Number Provides Qualifying Women Access to Local Health Providers Offering Free Clinical Breast Exams and Mammograms
